Injured by a faulty floor jack

You May Need A Financial Safety Net After Injury

28 May 2015

Mia Little

Being awarded an injury claim or court settlement is a good step forward in getting the compensation you deserve, but it isn't the end of things. You need to assess the worth of your offered compensation to make sure that it can help you for the duration of your injury, even if the injury lasts for the rest of your life. If pushing for more funding seems difficult, consider a few negotiation points that could help you in case the compensation isn't enough.

Measure The Compensation Against Injury Severity

If you're using a specific claims filing system such as Social Security disability or Veterans Affairs compensation programs, there is an established system of compensation based on how severe your injury is. Other factors such as ability to work, local economy or eligibility for other programs may affect your award amount.

Settling out of court for compensation may be different. Often, your legal opponent is looking to pay you off with as little as possible to avoid a costly debt for the duration of your injury. The amount may be more money than you've seen in one time in your life, which is a shocking and charming technique that the opponent hopes will tempt you into the settlement.

You need to calculate the costs of your medical needs related to the injury first. If you're so lucky that an injury will be completely recovered as you spends thousands of dollars, that's a great (but rare) situation. In many other situations, you may be dealing with a large sum of money that will be consumed by medical bills.

The easiest way to handle the issue is to bring in an independent medical team and financial consultant. By getting a neutral assessment in paper, you have more power in your corner to demand compensation. In some cases, you can ask for medical coverage as well as a housing and living essentials stipend that changes per year, depending on your injury level. For more information, contact a law firm such as Edward J. Achrem & Associates, Ltd.

Education And Training For Weak Compensation

There are times when you simply can't get more money out of you opponent. Either through a lack of proven responsibility or shared fault between parties, you may have to look to other areas to support yourself financially.

If your injuries make your current job more difficult, push for education and training support from your legal opponent. With the right services and techniques in place, it may cost less than your compensation demands.

By hiring a grant specialist or a grant writer with experience in the education finance system, you can gain access to different forms of funding for your degree that the average person can't find. Using your personal traits such as lineage, activities, previous grades or even your current disability, there may be enough funding to provide tuition for a four year degree and beyond.

Make sure to survey different career paths for profitability and personal interest. If the cost of a grant professional is low enough, you may even be able to get more than one bachelor's degree to spread out your skills and qualifications. Contact an attorney to begin planning your financial backup plan after injury claims and settlements.

My husband does much of our auto repair work himself. We do all that we can to save a dollar when we can, and doing the repair work saves us a small fortune each year. Unfortunately, all of the money that we have saved over the past 15 years has gone to pay the medical bills that we have accumulated during the last several months after a floor jack failed and dropped our car on top of my husband. A few days after the incident, I contacted an injury attorney. I have created a blog to help others that have been injured due to faulty products find some sort of resolution.